


a tale of noisy neighbors and walls that are way too thin

by spellchecks



Series: minhoon out of everyone's view but minhyuk and ilhoon's (unrelated AU one shots) [1]
Category: BTOB, K-pop
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, fics for my sister, minhoon, not as much as the other three though, the other members appear too
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-09
Updated: 2016-10-09
Packaged: 2018-08-20 07:47:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8241781
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spellchecks/pseuds/spellchecks
Summary: Ever since the young couple moved into the apartment right next to Eunkwang's, his life's gotten much more interesting.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [jijal](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jijal/gifts).



> happy birthday to my sister!

Eunkwang did not intend to eavesdrop at all. He’d _never_ do something as morally questionable as that. But he was bored half dead from working and if he _just so happened_ to catch a few words of what the people outside his little apartment were talking about (or maybe their whole conversation, who cares really?) then that’s not really his fault. After all the walls were quite thin and those people were talking pretty loudly.

“I really can’t believe that you’re moving out,” some guy proclaimed for the thousandth time.

A frustrated sigh. “I know, hyung, you’ve been saying that for the last ten minutes.”

Then the only things Eunkwang could hear were some loud noises, some crashing and then silence accompanied by soft panting. He moved closer to the door.

“I’m sorry, it’s just so… weird?” the first guy mumbled, a bit short of breath “just think about it. We’ve been living together for four years and now you’re moving in with your boyfriend, who by the way isn’t helping at all right now, when his muscles are finally being needed for once.”

Again a frustrated sigh. “Are you being jealous?”

Silence.

“No. Just… a bit sad maybe? Also worried. You know I don’t trust Minhyuk.”

“Yeah I do.”

Again there was silence.

“Let’s go get the rest” the second guy said.

 _What a lousy way of changing the topic,_ Eunkwang shook his head slightly and then proceeded to press his ear against the door, waiting for them to return and distract him from his work.

He woke up two hours later in that same position, with an aching back giving him hell and a faint feeling of frustration for not being able to find out why guy1 didn’t trust guy2’s boyfriend.

 

* * *

 

A week passed, in which Eunkwang was way too busy with work to wonder about his new neighbors and their private lives. But then Sunday came, and with it Yook Sungjae.

It was around ten am, a time where he would usually be awake, but that day was an exception. Work had been killing him with crazy hours and next to no sleep so he had actually been happy to sleep in for once. Of course the universe had other plans for him.

He woke up to someone ringing his doorbell. An estimated hundred times. In the span of one minute. So he was pissed and a bit panicked. A great way to wake up on a Sunday, right? No.

Slamming the door open, he was ready to just straight up slam it shut again. And he would’ve really done that, if it weren’t for the dumbstruck expression on the face of the stranger standing right in front of him, hand still on the doorbell.

“Uhm… I’m sorry, but… who are you?” the guy asked after staring at him for a minute or something.

“Seo Eunkwang,” Eunkwang replied. He was too tired for this.

“Oh.”

The stranger became quiet again.

“What do you want?” Eunkwang really wanted to get back into his still warm bed waiting for him.

The stranger mustered him for a few seconds, making him painfully aware of the fact that he was one, a head smaller than the other guy and two, shamelessly standing in front of him in just his boxers and a t-shirt.

Thankfully the doorbell-harasser spoke before Eunkwang could feel too embarrassed about that.

“Well I actually just wanted to use the restroom.”

“What,” what?

The stranger just looked him in the eye, totally serious, not seeming even a bit ashamed.

“There are no classes today so I wanted to take a look at my friend’s new apartment, he said that he was at home till nine so I had to hurry and didn’t use the restroom before leaving, but this isn’t his apartment, is it?”

“No and it’s ten.”

“Oh.”

Again he became silent.

“Uhm… I really have to pee so… could I use yours maybe?”

There was no way he was going to fall back asleep now.

He sighed. “Sure, come on in.”

 

Two coffees and a short wait for the guy to finish his business later Eunkwang found out that his name was Yook Sungjae and that the apartment he was searching for was actually his new neighbors’. He figured he should find out a bit more about the guys living next to him. So he started asking about them; what kind of people they were, if they had any pets, what they did for a living and how Sungjae knew them.

When Sungjae left again it was already five and Eunkwang knew a lot more than before.

The guys living next to him were Lee Minhyuk and Jung Ilhoon, the latter the friend Sungjae had mentioned earlier, and they were a couple.

Minhyuk was a typical office worker who loved to work out and Ilhoon a university student studying music with a weird love for coffee. They had a dog and had been dating for three years.

Eunkwang even asked Sungjae if he knew who the other guy was he had heard a week ago and before he could start to panic if that question was rude or seemed creepy Sungjae told him that it was probably Changsub, another friend of Ilhoon and his ex-roommate.

He didn’t have enough guts to ask why Changsub didn’t like Minhyuk, but it was probably for the better.

 

* * *

 

The next week wasn’t as busy for him, so he decided to finally welcome his neighbors to their new flat. He had even bought a small gift for them –a dog toy wrapped in Christmas wrapping paper- and mustered up his courage to ring their bell on a Tuesday evening.

There was no one answering for a long enough time to make him wonder if they maybe weren’t at home and if he should just leave his present in front of their door with a note or come back another time or-

“Hey.”

He dropped the present and nearly died of a heart attack.

“Jesus Christ!” he did not just shriek “Ah shit, uh, I’m your neighbor! Seo Eunkwang, and I just wanted to welcome you here, uh, nice to, uh, meet you, I guess?” he stretched out his hand, hoping that he didn’t look as red as the warmth in his cheeks indicated.

“You dropped something,” the guy motioned to the wrapped toy lying on the ground.

“Oh! Gosh, I’m sorry,” Eunkwang scrambled to pick up the gift and tripped over thin air in the process.

The boy, who was still watching him from his place in the doorway just chuckled slightly and gave him a friendly smile as soon as Eunkwang had managed to stand back in front of him again.

“My boyfriend isn’t here at the moment, but do you want to come in, Seo Eunkwang?”

 

When he came back to his apartment at half past eleven, he had decided that Lee Minhyuk was a nice person and that he didn’t understand why Changsub couldn’t trust him. He didn’t even seem all that weirded out by Eunkwang’s present!

 

* * *

 

Their lives went on and the only times they met were maybe once or twice a week where they stopped for some small talk and exchanged some pleasantries. Eunkwang had yet to meet Ilhoon and Changsub, but eventhough he told Minhyuk that he'd like to meet his boyfriend every time they met, their schedules weren't on their sides.

 

* * *

 

December came and Eunkwang ended up sick like every year. Having too much work and only eating unhealthy food didn't really do much for his body so he was used to it by now. What he wasn’t used to, however, was hearing voices.

At first he had thought that his fever had gotten the better of him, but soon he realized that those voices weren’t coming from his head, but the apartment next to his. It had been quite a while that he was able to hear his neighbors.

He wondered how thin the walls were that he could even roughly understand what they were talking about.

In the end he didn’t really care and just gave in to listening.

 

Two weeks passed like that, two weeks in which Eunkwang came to know more about his neighbors than he initially wanted.

He could hear them laugh over TV-Shows or jokes the other made, witnessed them cooking and cleaning, together or alone, had to listen to the disgustingly sweet sound of their voices when they were flirting and playing around, but also to moments where one of them apparently wasn’t feeling well and how the other’s voice became thick with worry.

One night he was pretty sure that he had heard someone cry and contemplated going over and asking if everything was alright (even if he’d pass on his flu to that other person). But before he could, he noticed the low and comforting mumbling, which seemed to eventually make the crying stop. When he was getting a bit worried and started feeling bad for the one who had cried, he could hear some sounds he wished he hadn’t. Very _passionate_ and _loving_ sounds he would never be able to burn out of his brain.

 

* * *

 

Like every year Eunkwang was alone at home on Christmas Eve. Not because he wanted to, but because he didn't really have anyone to spend it with. It didn’t matter though, he was used to it.

At a time where others would decorate their tree or maybe eat their Christmas dinner he decided to just watch some TV. There wasn’t much to do anyways.

That was until he started hearing the voices of his neighbors again. At first he set his mind to ignoring them, like he always did when he wasn’t bored or sick, but then he noticed something unsettling. Their tones were different. The way they talked to each other didn’t sound like anything he’d ever heard from them. He silenced his television, heart beat starting to pick up its pace.

The voices were getting louder; they were filled with emotion, not leaving a doubt that the couple was having a very heated argument. And sure he’d heard them fighting before, but then it had always carried some kind of affection too, not now though.

Soon they were full on shouting. Screams full of words Eunkwang tried not to understand. It wasn’t his business, he shouldn’t listen to something this private, shouldn’t get involved. That was what he thought at first. But suddenly there was a loud crash and the shouting stopped all at once.

He got goosebumps, could feel the hair on his whole body standing up. Now he craved for the sound of a voice. Anything that gave him a reason to not go over there, to not have to call the police or an ambulance. The pumping of his heart had never been this loud in his ears.

Thirty seconds passed in which Eunkwang felt like his head was going to burst from trying so hard to hear something, anything at all.

And then he finally did. There was a quiet voice saying words he couldn’t understand. This time it was almost void of all emotion. Then there was the slam of an apartment door and silence.

Eunkwang counted the seconds.

At 300 he decided to go over.

 

He didn’t expect anything, tried not to think anything, else he’d be too scared to ring the doorbell.

It took a while, but after an agonizingly long two minutes the door finally opened. In front of him stood Minhyuk, eyes red and wearing an expression full of regret.

After standing there for a bit, neither knowing what to say, Minhyuk asked quietly:

“Wanna come in for a beer?”

 

They not only spent Christmas Eve, but also the next morning drinking and talking together. Minhyuk explained what had happened. Him and Ilhoon had had an argument, he had been washing the dishes, telling Ilhoon something which the other didn’t like, they started arguing, they got angry, Minhyuk threw a plate he was holding on the floor and Ilhoon stormed out.

It wasn’t a sufficient explanation at all. So Eunkwang did something he didn’t think he’d have the guts to and asked what the fight had been about.

To his surprise, and probably due to the alcohol, Minhyuk started telling him.

It was a long story, starting with how they had first met each other.

 

Minhyuk had been new at school, being forced to move at the start of his fourth year of high school. And being a very athletic student he had immediately searched for any sport clubs. Since it was a fairly small school, there had only been one football club for both high and middle school and Minhyuk signed up for it.

On his first day there he had been told by some of the other guys in the club –all in their third or fourth year- that there was some kind of tradition that only the older players took part in. Not knowing what it was about he told them that he’d join them.

It turned out that they were assholes. The typical “footballers-are-only-stupid-bullies”-cliché and all that. Their “tradition” had been to bully middle school kids. Hit them, laugh at them and spit them in their faces. Minhyuk had just watched them, wondering if being one of them would be worth it. After giving it a long thought he had decided to only watch and not actively take part in it.

An hour or so later, when he had gone to the restroom he could hear someone crying. He had asked them if they were alright and the like and in the end he had somehow ended up comforting a crying Ilhoon, who had been in his fourth year of middle school back then.

Ilhoon, Minhyuk told Eunkwang, had a very complicated family situation. His mother and sister had left home when he was younger and his dad had used to hit him after he’d found out that Ilhoon was gay. So Minhyuk had ditched the football club and became friends with Ilhoon.

After some years friendship transformed into love and when Ilhoon had finally turned eighteen Minhyuk had asked him if he’d like to go out with him. Three years later they decided to move in together. Ilhoon suffered from all of that. The bullying, which had gone on for his whole time in school, the hitting at home until he had turned seventeen and moved in with Changsub, all of that.

Minhyuk had made a long pause then, before moving on with the story.

The thing he had told Ilhoon, which had made him so angry was the fact that his boyfriend was still in contact with two guys he knew from the football club. And Minhyuk understood why Ilhoon didn’t like that, but he also liked those guys and wanted to make sure that Ilhoon knew that just because they had been in a sports club back in high school didn’t mean that they were bullies.

That was how their fight had started and it ended with Minhyuk throwing a plate and Ilhoon getting out.

 

* * *

 

The days following Christmas were a mess. A mess filled with not only sad ballads and quiet sobbing from the other side of the wall, but also with a slurred voice shouting an angry monologue into the silence. This time Eunkwang couldn’t just listen though. He decided that he should intervene, using the noises, which were disturbing him, as an excuse to get involved.

 

* * *

 

That’s how he ended up in a random Starbucks, sipping on some coffee-like beverage and waiting for Sungjae. He was glad that the two of them had decided to exchange numbers back then, even when he had wanted to decline at first.

When Sungjae finally came, he wasn’t alone.

“Hey, hyung. Nice to meet you again, this is Changsub hyung,” he beamed at him while motioning to the bored looking guy on his side.

Eunkwang was so taken aback, that he couldn’t even say a word about Sungjae already calling him hyung, when they had only met once.

“Uh, nice to meet you?” he stammered, stretching out his hand to Changsub “I’m Seo Eunkwang, Minhyuk and Ilhoon’s neighbor.”

Changsub gave him a short nod and sat down, making Eunkwang stand there with his hand stretched out awkwardly and definitely not looking forward to the conversation that was going to happen.

 

It didn’t turn out as bad as it could have. Eunkwang explained what had happened on Christmas and what Minhyuk had told him. And while Changsub hadn’t really looked pleased, he agreed that they should at least get the couple to talk to each other again. (Changsub had mentioned how annoying Ilhoon was when being sad –blaring out lyrics of sad songs, not getting out of his bed and only leaving more trash and dirty clothes for Changsub to take care of).

Their plan was to make all of the people involved to meet on New Years Eve.

Eunkwang got a message from Sungjae on the 29th, saying that Changsub and him had persuaded Ilhoon to come.

Getting the numbers of Peniel and Hyunsik (Minhyuk’s football friends) was quite easy and informing them of the situation only moderately awkward.

So there was nothing that stopped New Years Eve from happening.

 

* * *

 

The 31st came and was the most interesting day in Eunkwang’s whole year. At first Ilhoon was cold, Minhyuk going from guilty to angry to indifferent several times in an hour and the rest just standing around awkwardly trying to save the already lost atmosphere. But the more the evening went on, the better Ilhoon got to know the others.

Once the ice broke he hit it right off with Hyunsik, talking about composing music and writing lyrics. Peniel turned out to be one of the chillest and nicest guys anyone had ever known and Changsub started treating Minhyuk a bit differently after hearing him calling one of his tattoos cool and having him ask about it.

All in all it was a great day. Eunkwang had finally made some friends too.

And when the clock showed midnight and there was no sign of Minhyuk and Ilhoon anywhere, no one said anything about it. They’d rather not know.

 

 


End file.
